Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Mainstream feminist site criticizes our site

One of the community bloggers at Feministing.com criticized this blog without, I would say respectfully, giving us a fair read. She concluded that ". . . the author refers to his 'objectively verifiable data' but never links to a source or names a resource that we could actually verify. How verifiable is that?"

We link to sources throughout this site. I'd gladly discuss with the author of that post underreporting, Fed.R.Evid. 413, the Rape Shield Laws, the use of polygraphs in connection with rape claims -- and any other topic related to this subject if we would both agree to have an open mind with a desire to learn from each other.

Regarding stats: initially, I would note here in passing that a brand new five-year Indian study has been released that we are going to be blogging about in the next several days. It found 18.3 percent rape claims are false (not "unfounded" -- we know the difference between false and unfounded). Now, that 18.3 figure is more than nine times the average of false reporting for all crimes, according to FBI statistics. (The Politics of Sexuality, Barry M. Dank, Editor in Chief, Vol. 3 at 36, n. 8.)

As dramatic as this may seem, other serious studies on the subject of false rape show even higher percentages of falsity. While the numbers vary, every serious study ever conducted on the subject shows that false rape claims are far greater than the two percent claimed by radical feminists.

“Kanin also studied the police records of two unnamed large state universities and found that in three years, 50 percent of the 64 rapes reported to campus police were determined to be false.” http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/97/6/rape.asp Kanin, for the uninitiated, is a feminist icon (aside from his false rape studies, of course!).

The fact is, we don't trust any one study and we feel more comfortable with a range of nine percent to closer to fifty percent. In "Until Proven Innocent," the widely praised (praised even by the New York Times, which the book skewers -- as well as almost every other major U.S. news source) and painstaking study of the Duke Lacrosse non-rape case, Stuart Taylor and Professor K.C. Johnson explain that the exact number of false claims is elusive but "[t]he standard assertion by feminists that only 2 percent" or sexual assault claims "are false, which traces to Susan Brownmiller's 1975 book 'Against Our Will,' is without empirical foundation and belied by a wealth of empirical data. These data suggest that at least 9 percent and probably closer to half" of all sexual assault claims "are false . . . ." (Page 374.)

We find that refreshingly honest as opposed to insisting on an exact number.

And by the way, we happen to agree there are far too many rapes and that we all ought to be on the same side to eradicate them -- date rape drugs and young men who use the bodies of young women as their personal playgrounds -- we have no use for any of it, and we all have a duty to put an end to it. But unfortunately the radical feminists insist that false rape claims are a myth despite irrefutable evidence showing that they are a real problem for innocent men and boys who don't rape. (I wish I could tell you about my work for the falsely accused in my legal practice, or share with you the heartbreaking emails I get -- usually from a female family member of the falsely accused. I get so many emails from people asking for help, I can't answer them all.)